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Total E™ quantity

Details

Vitamin E is primarily an antioxidant and is one of five members of the body’s antioxidant network. It is often used to help keep skin healthy and youthful, protecting it against UV damage and helping to heal wounds. Vitamin E also has many benefits for heart health. Vitamin E is not just one molecule, but a complex of eight different “vitamers” (four tocopherols and four tocotrienols). The benefits of all 8 members of the vitamin E family cannot be ignored. For example, gamma-tocopherol and gamma-tocotrienol may be involved in helping to regulate blood pressure. In addition, people with low gamma-tocopherol have been found to have a higher incidence of prostate problems and cognitive decline.

In 2001, AOR introduced Total E, the first complete, balanced E-complex to North America. It provides all four tocopherols and four tocotrienols in their natural ratios. The formula also includes Coenzyme Q10, because this nutrient plays a vital role in “recharging” E vitamins to their active antioxidant forms when they are deactivated in the battle against free radicals.

People who supplement with regular vitamin E that contains only alpha-tocopherol (or one of the synthetic variations) should consider switching to a natural, full-spectrum vitamin E. Those who need antioxidant, skin health and cholesterol support may benefit from taking Total E.

Label Information

NPN

80006854

Discussion

Total E™ is the first truly balanced, complete E-complex supplement that provides antioxidants for good health. Unlike other vitamin E supplements, Total E™ includes eight distinct vitamin E molecules: four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Research shows that each of the different vitamin E molecules has a unique function.

Guarantees

AOR™ guarantees that all ingredients have been declared on the label. Contains no wheat, gluten, corn, nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, mustard, dairy, eggs, fish or shellfish.

AOR Advantage

In 2001, AOR introduced the first complete E-complex to North America. Total E contains only natural ingredients and is not bolstered with synthetic alpha-tocopherol or unnatural ratios of each vitaminer. Total E is the first complete, full-spectrum, balanced E complex supplement in Canada, providing alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocopherols and tocotrienols in a potency designed to create an excellent E-complex profile. The formula also includes Coenzyme Q10, because this nutrient plays a vital role in “recharging” E vitamins to their active antioxidant form when they are deactivated in the battle against free radicals.

Adult Dosage

Take 1 softgel daily with a fat-containing meal, or as directed by a qualified health care practitioner.

Cautions

Consult a health care practitioner prior to use if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking blood pressure medication. Contains soy and sulphites. Do not use if you have a soy or sulphite allergy.

Main Applications

Network antioxidant

Cardiovascular health

Cholesterol

Disclaimer

The information and product descriptions appearing on this website are for information purposes only, and are not intended to provide or replace medical advice to individuals from a qualified health care professional. Consult with your physician if you have any health concerns, and before initiating any new diet, exercise, supplement, or other lifestyle changes.

After just one month of supplementing with 400 IU of alpha-tocopherol, peoples’ gamma-tocopherol levels are reduced by two-thirds. It may take as much as two years for the ratio of alpha- and gamma-tocopherol to normalize after unbalanced alpha-tocopherol supplementation is stopped! By contrast, gamma-tocopherol supplements actually raise alpha-tocopherol levels. Over the long term, tocotrienols may have a similar effect, as they are slowly converted to alpha-tocopherol over time.

Which “E” For the Heart?

Many studies (the HOPE, GISSI, CHAOS, Primary Prevention Project (PPP)) have now found that, despite all expectations, alpha-tocopherol does not give any protection against death from a heart attack or other heart hazards in people at high risk. Many objections have been raised against these trials, but the problem may have been that they had the wrong “vitamin E.”

When you consider all the heart-protective properties of the “other” E vitamins – cholesterol-lowering, anti-inflammatory, blood-pressure reduction, inhibition of adhesion molecules, and on and on – you might expect that alpha-tocopherol, alone, is not going to be the heart cure-all many people expect it to be. It’s interesting, therefore, that several studies have found that low plasma levels of gamma-tocopherol – but not alpha tocopherol – are found in patients with atherosclerosis. Three such studies have specifically found an unbalanced ratio of alpha- to gamma-tocopherol in such patients! A key step in the development of atherosclerosis is the invasion of injured blood vessel walls by immune cells called monocytes. A recent study found that alpha-tocotrienol actually inhibited the sticking of monocytes to the endothelial cell. Alpha-tocotrienol was much more potent than alpha-tocopherol.

Likewise, in two large epidemiological studies (one involving American women, and the other including Finnish people of both genders), it’s been found that vitamin E from food, but not from supplements, was protective against death from heart disease. Why would this be? Maybe the problem lies, again, in the form of vitamin E being used. Crucially, most of the vitamin E in the food we eat is gamma-tocopherol, while most “vitamin E” supplements are overbalanced with alpha.

Tocotrienols & Cholesterol

One of the key benefits of the tocotrienols is their ability to reduce cholesterol synthesis, by reducing the activity of HMG-CoA reductase, a key enzyme in this process. Alpha-tocopherol supplements have been shown to interfere with this action in animal experiments. Double-blind, placebo-controlled trials have shown that high-dose tocotrienol complex can help restore cholesterol balance in people whose levels are too high. In one such trial, tocotrienols actually reversed the thickening of the arteries leading into the brain in patients with advanced carotid stenosis.

The Gammas for Blood Pressure

Extracellular fluid pressure plays a key role in the regulation of blood pressure, and high extracellular fluid pressure puts you at risk of congestive heart failure, cardiac fibrosis, and liver cirrhosis. It was recently found that gamma-tocopherol and gamma-tocotrienol, but not alpha-tocopherol, help control extracellular fluid pressure through a key metabolite.

Healthy Prostate Cells

While one study (the ATBC trial) found that low-dose alpha-tocopherol promotes healthy cell activities in the prostate, two studies suggest that high-dose alpha-tocopherol may actually increase the risk of prostate problems. Some researchers think that the reason may be due to alpha-tocopherol’s ability to deplete gamma-tocopherol, since (as discussed below) some studies have found that higher levels of gamma-tocopherol, but not alpha-tocopherol alone, reduce the risk of this problem. A recent study found that men who had the most gamma-tocopherol in their blood were an astounding five times less likely to develop prostate problems than men whose blood gamma-tocopherol levels were lowest. In the same study, alpha-tocopherol and selenium levels were only found to be protective in men whose gamma-tocopherol levels were also high!

Cell Suicide

Five studies have found that that delta-tocopherol, as well as all four tocotrienols, but not alpha-tocopherol, can cause unhealthy breast cells to commit “cellular suicide” in a test tube.

Tocotrienols Are Stronger Antioxidants

Alpha-tocopherol is a good antioxidant against many kinds of free radicals, but gamma-tocopherol is much more effective in detoxifying “reactive nitrogen species,” the class of free radicals found in smog. In fact, alpha-tocopherol cannot effectively remove peroxynitrite (a key reactive nitrogen species) without gamma-tocopherol as a partner. The tocotrienols’ unique chemical structures allow them to move around more freely in cell membranes. As a result, the tocotrienols are forty to sixty times more potent antioxidants than the tocopherols in biological membranes. Researchers recently reported that tocotrienols, but not alpha-tocopherol, extend the average lifespan of flatworms, and protected them against carbonylation, a kind of free radical damage to the body’s proteins.

Gamma-Tocopherol for Inflammation

COX-2 is a key enzyme in the inflammatory process. It is targeted by “COX-2 inhibitor” drugs such as Celebrex® and Vioxx.® Researchers have recently reported that gamma-tocopherol, but not alpha-tocopherol, is an effective COX-2 inhibitor. The researchers also mention that “the current finding is consistent with our recent [unpublished] observation that gamma-tocopherol supplementation attenuated inflammation-induced damage in rats.”

Alzheimer’s Disease and Gamma-Tocopherol

There’s been evidence for a long time that free radicals are important in the degenerative process of Alzheimer’s disease. But until recently, it hasn’t been clear which kinds of free radicals are perpetrating these acts of neurological terrorism. And without an understanding of which free radicals are doing the damage, you can’t know which antioxidants are likely to be most effective in putting out the fires.

Recent research has begun to provide evidence that nitrogen-based free radicals, such as peroxynitrite, is especially virulent in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. As noted above, gamma-, but not alpha-tocopherol can detoxify nitrogen-based free radicals such as peroxynitrite. So researchers looked at levels of gamma- and alpha-tocopherol in the brains of people who had died with Alzheimer’s disease. The results: victims of Alzheimer’s disease were found to have a specific depletion of gamma-tocopherol in areas of the brain affected by the disease: alpha-tocopherol levels were the same in the brains of the Alzheimer’s casualties as in people without the disease, but gamma-tocopherol levels were found to be lower throughout the brains of people with the disease compared to the brains of those without.

These depleted levels of gamma-tocopherol corresponded with increased levels of a waste product left over when gamma-tocopherol is used up in fighting nitrogen-based free radicals. Crucially, the region-by-region pattern of used-up gamma-tocopherol followed the pattern of nitrogen-based free radical damage already established in earlier studies.

Finally, the same team showed that gamma-, but not alpha-tocopherol could significantly protect the enzyme alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase from damage by peroxynitrite. Levels of this enzyme have been found to be reduced by 50 to 75% in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s than it is in the brains of people not suffering with the disease. The researchers confirmed their suspicions: as much as 55% of the peroxynitrite damage to this Alzheimer’s-sensitive enzyme was prevented by gamma-tocopherol, while alpha-tocopherol offered only a 15% reduction at the optimal concentration.

One large, double-blind, placebo-controlled study has already shown that alpha-tocopherol supplements can provide some limited support for people with Alzheimer’s, slowing the progression of the disease. This new research suggests that gamma-tocopherol may provide far greater protection. In fact, these scientists suggest that, since “Dietary supplementation with alpha-tocopherol will decrease plasma levels of gamma-tocopherol …it is conceivable that the beneficial effect of alpha-tocopherol supplementation are confounded by a diminuition of gamma-tocopherol pools in [Alzheimer’s disease] … A better clinical paradigm might entail co-supplementation with gamma-tocopherol.”